1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to an exercise machine with a self-aligning pivoting user support, and is particularly concerned with a chest press exercise machine.
2. Related Art
A chest press is a compound exercise movement. There are two basic types of exercise movement, isolation and compound. Isolation exercises are designed to isolate a single muscle or muscle group and reduce body part movement to rotation of a single joint. Leg extensions and biceps curls are examples of isolation exercises. Compound movement involves more than one body part and requires multiple joint action. Chest press exercises are an example of a compound exercise movement.
Chest press exercise machines attempt to reproduce the exercise movement of a free weight chest press exercise using a barbell or dumbbell. One problem is the unnatural and exaggerated arcing movement often found in such machines, which often do not accurately simulate the natural body movement found in a free weight exercise.